The Philadelphia Eagles suffered their first loss of the season Sunday against the Detroit Lions as mistakes were plentiful and execution was poor. While it puts a blemish on their record, it was just what the Eagles needed moving forward.
For a team that was picked to struggle, the Eagles have proved many critics wrong with their early season play. But to say the nation weren’t anticipating that first lost would be an understatement. The Eagles started the season with wins against the Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns but they were looked upon as Varsity vs JV. But how? Wasn’t this the same Eagles team they placed on the level of those teams in preseason? After their victory against the Bears it was a nationwide quote “wait till they play the Pittsburgh Steelers next week, then we will see how good they are”. Well, the Eagles proved to be 34-3 good and the critics hushed.
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But the loss to the Lions brought those same naysayers out even louder than before, but for what reason? Teams will have bad days, it’s a given in this league, sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way or calls go the other direction, it just happens. The Eagles needed this loss, and it was good for them to get it out the way early. They are too young to be thinking an undefeated season and too early to be thinking NFC East division title.
The Lions did the Eagles a favor Sunday, now they can get back to the drawing board and refocus. Carson Wentz finally there his first interception of the season, Ryan Mathews made his first costly mistake and the Eagles secondary learned they still must work as a unit. And the penalties killed any chance of a victory (14-111 yards). But, all good teams must go through these growing pains, and the Eagles got their first lesson early. It was a loss but it was a much-needed one.